[149 Pages Report] The railway wiring harness market is projected to grow at a CAGR of 8.61% during the forecast period. The market was valued at USD 2.26 billion in 2017 and is projected to reach USD 4.21 billion by 2025. In this study, 2017 has been considered the base year, and 2018–2025 is the forecast period, for estimating the size of the market.

The market report studies the railway wiring harness market and forecasts the market size, by value, based on the application, component, cable type, voltage, material, train type, and region. The report tracks and analyzes competitive developments such as joint ventures, mergers & acquisitions, new product developments, expansions, and other industry-related activities carried out by the key players to strengthen their position in the market. The report also studies market dynamics including drivers, restraints, opportunities, and challenges, and analyzes their impact on the market.

The research methodology used in the report involves various secondary sources such as the International Association of Public Transport (UITP), Indian Railway Welfare Organization (IRWO), Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), Association of American Railroads (AAR), Association of the European Rail Industry (AERI), and paid databases and directories. Experts from related industries and suppliers have been interviewed to understand the future trends of the railway wiring harness market. The bottom-up and top-down approaches have been used to estimate and validate the size of the global market.

The below figure illustrates the break-up of the profile of industry experts who participated in primary discussions.

By Voltage

By Train Type

By Region

Available Customizations

MarketsandMarkets offers the following customizations for this market:

Railway wiring harness market, additional application

Profiling of additional market players (Up to 3)

Competitive Leadership Mapping (Micro-quadrant) of two companies

Drivers

Increasing railway projects

Rapid urbanization and continuous economic growth across the world are leading to increased investments in the rail and transit sector to improve the quality of public transport. The governments of different countries in the Asia Pacific region, such as China, Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand, are carrying out new rail projects and upgrading and expanding their existing rail infrastructures to improve their overall rail connectivity. The adoption of high-speed rail (HSR) transport is increasing heavily since the ridership in the HSR-operated countries is increasing to experience enhanced transporting modes.

Rising smart city projects

Growing urbanization provides a thrust to the evolution of smart cities. Governments across different regions have started initiating smart city projects to provide better infrastructure, services, and speed up operational activities in the public and transportation services (includes railway and roadway). For example, in 2016, the Government of India proposed 109 smart city projects across the major cities of India. The increasing number of smart city projects across the globe is expected to drive the growth of rolling stock and supporting infrastructure. The reason for this is that people in various countries now prefer to use alternate modes of transport like railways rather than travelling in heavy traffic with personal vehicles.

Opportunities

Growing trend of driverless trains

Developed countries have initiated plans for the advancement of driverless train networks, which is expected to propel the growth of the transportation sector. Countries such as China, India, South Korea, US, UK, Mexico, Brazil, and South Africa are planning to revolutionize their rail networks with the introduction of driverless trains. Rail manufacturers are expanding geographically by investing in infrastructure for the manufacture of driverless trains. Developed regions like North America and Europe are improving the safety and security of railways by retrofitting trains and replacing existing systems with advanced systems. These retrofitting and deployment of new driverless trains require extensive amount of wiring, which creates a huge opportunity for growth of the railway wiring harness market. For instance, in the European region, a new initiative known as the 4th railway package has been undertaken to create a single European rail area with structural and technical reforms. The initiative aims at providing high levels of safety, interoperability, and reliability to the European rail network. These developments are expected to boost the market for railway wiring harness.

Need for energy efficient wiring system

Railway transportation is one of the most energy efficient and environment-friendly means of transportation. Various technological improvements are taking place year on year that lead to higher energy consumption. The higher the number of electronic systems in a train, the more energy the train consumes while running. The manufacturers are developing energy efficient systems that consume less electric energy for operation. However, benchmarking the electronic system alone is not enough to reduce energy consumption. The wiring harness also needs to support the system and be energy efficient. Driverless trains equipped with inbuilt energy efficient systems are expected to reduce power consumption in the future. Connected trains are also set to play a pivotal role in the railway industry. Such connected trains with a larger number of safety, infotainment, and entertainment systems will be able to provide comfort and ensure the safety of passengers. These systems would also need energy efficient wiring to minimize energy consumption while the train is in transit. This creates opportunities for railway wiring manufacturers, which can boost the global railway wiring harness market.

Expansions

Date

Company Name

Description

May 2018

Furukawa

Furukawa set up a new optical fiber cable manufacturing plant in Morocco as a part of its initiative to strengthen its business activities in the EMEA (Europe, Middle East, and Africa) market. The plant will serve as a manufacturing center for Furukawa Electric, and is the company’s first such center in Africa.

December 2017

Furukawa

Furukawa Electric LatAm, a company of the Furukawa Electric Group, established a new manufacturing facility in Mexico to focus on the production of solutions for the communications market. The first phase of operations will concentrate on producing fiber optic cables and cordages for optical fiber access.

Mergers & Acquisitions

Date

Company Name

Description

February 2018

Prysmian Group

Prysmian Group acknowledged that General Cable Corporation’s shareholders approved its acquisition by Prysmian Group for a consideration of USD 30.00 per share – as announced on December 4, 2017.

March 2017

Motherson

Motherson Sumi Systems Ltd (MSSL) acquired Finland-based global auto component major PKC Group Plc for approximately EUR 571 million. This move will help the company expand its footprint significantly in the American and European railway and commercial vehicle market segments.

Hitachi Cable America Inc., (HCA), a manufacturer of high-performance copper and fiber optic communication cables, released a new unshielded Category 6A cable that delivers an exceptional 10 Gigabit Ethernet support with a small 0.275 inch (6.985 mm) outside diameter.

The railway wiring harness market is estimated to be USD 2.36 billion in 2018 and is projected to reach USD 4.21 billion by 2025, at a CAGR of 8.61% from 2018 to 2025. The key growth drivers for the market are the growing number of new railway projects and increasing demand for advanced applications and features in a train.

The high-speed rail/bullet train segment is estimated to be the fastest growing market for railway wiring harness. The increased focus on high-speed rail programs in the Asia Pacific, Europe, and North America and the increasing government investments in rail infrastructure and equipment would drive the market for railway wiring harness. The rapid growth of the high-speed train network can be attributed to the numerous benefits of the high-speed train technology, which includes freight transport. The increase in the adoption rate of high-speed trains has raised the demand for railway wiring harness across the globe. According to the Union des Industries Ferroviaires Européennes (UNIFE), Asia Pacific has the second-largest rail network in the world. Countries such as China, Japan, India, and South Korea are supporting the growth of the railway industry, thus driving the growth of the railway wiring harness market.

The low voltage segment of the railway wiring harness market is projected to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period. The increasing number of comfort systems such as charger port, Wi-Fi devices, music system, and others has increased the demand for low voltage wiring. The Asia Pacific is expected to be the fastest growing market for low voltage wiring because of the ongoing investments in upgrading the technology of the rolling stock.

The infotainment segment of the railway wiring harness market is projected to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period. Infotainment systems are anticipated to show substantial growth in the coming years due to the increasing adoption of high-end electronics features by rail manufacturers. Therefore, the rising installation of high-end electronics and safety features in the metro, light rail, and high-speed rail/bullet train is the key factor fueling the growth of the market.

Europe is estimated to be the largest market for railway wiring harness. The rail industry in Europe is the largest for rail products, services, and high-tech rolling stock. The European railway industry is technologically advanced and is witnessing fast progress in upgrading its total infrastructure with connected technology.

The environmental issues related to wiring harness is the key factor restraining the growth of the railway wiring harness market. The market is dominated by a few global players and comprises several regional players. Some of the key manufacturers operating in the market are Furukawa (Japan), Leoni (Germany), Hitachi (Japan), Nexans (France), and Prysmian (Italy).

Challenges

Fluctuating price of copper

A wiring harness is manufactured using copper, aluminum, and plastic. Copper is used in multiple industries such as infrastructure and electricity. Hence, the cost of copper keeps fluctuating. Also, these fluctuations tend to increase due to the supply and demand gap. The demand for copper is extensive, which primarily governs its global pricing. With the growing economies, the demand for copper is anticipated to increase, thereby inflating the prices worldwide. The railway industry is mainly procuring a large quantity of copper for manufacturing wiring harness for trains. Various factors are considered while manufacturing wiring harness, which control the pricing of wiring harness. The factors include price of material, transport cost, labor cost, and others. Manufacturing of wiring harnesses is a labor-intensive job. It depends on skilled labor which incurs the highest cost in the manufacturing process. All these factors result in rising inputs cost and raw material prices.

Durability issues

The rolling stock and its supporting infrastructure requires various electronic systems that are operated by electric power delivered through cables and wires. Major systems for rolling stock include HVAC, lighting system, brake, data and transmission, traction system, infotainment, traction motor, and others. The wiring systems are used to deliver low to high voltage power to the rolling stock. At times, the wiring systems are subjected to high loads, which can hamper their durability. This can cause malfunction of various systems inside the train and lead to downtime or delays. A reliable cable protection reduces the risk of any damage to cables and the associated consequences. Therefore, railway wiring manufacturers at present face a glaring issue in terms of durability and high performance during physical strains.

Restraint

Environmental challenge for wiring harness

The electrical wiring system corrosion because of environmental changes has been a major issue. Corrosion affects the various systems in trains that are powered by the wiring harness. For instance, corrosion can cause voltage and current flow degradation which a sensor could interpret as a system fault. The fault can lead to the malfunction of safety systems like computer-based train control, positive train control, and others. Rail manufacturers bundle wiring harnesses tightly to standardize the manufacturing process. This, however, causes various problems such as wearing out of wires and chances of fire. Most of trains run in an open environment which is susceptible to changes in weather conditions. Water leakages wear out wires and can cause corrosion of wires internally leading to malfunctions of various systems of a train. Wiring harness corrosion can thus be a major restraint for the railway wiring harness market.